How exactly do you think a government would use information like this? What are you eating that would anyone would be interested in? Babies? Are you dressing yourself in radioactive waste?

And what makes you think that this information isn't available to pretty much anyone who wants it anyway? Do you use a credit card? Do you have a bank account (other than off shore)? A membership card for any kind of store? Unless you are using cash for every transaction you make, they are all being recorded and tracked. Not likely by the government, but certainly by corporations who will use it to tailor marketing strategies.

I'm surprised you are even using the internet. You realize that every website you visit can be tracked as well as your location don't you? Quick, better crawl back under a rock before 'they' find you!

As an aside... great article and thanks for providing information on emerging technology like this. Maybe some coverage on security issues would be a good idea, however, as this seems to be a pretty big concern for a number people. Admittedly, if I can control electrical appliances in my house remotely from a smart phone, someone else potentially could too.Reply

Wow, I wish I would have read this last year! Slickr hit the nail on the head. I had Night Owl surveillance cameras outside my home and all new appliances and a new furnace, as well as a fully formally monitered security system. My ex while living here allowed access and set up basically a home I had no privacy, control or in reality ownership of. To make matters worse she was an especially vindictive woman and made me listen to unpeakable things via a RPC 2700/Ubuntu network she had secretly set up!!!

I'm just finally figuring it all out, thankfully I'm still alie and can prove all the crazy things she's done. Reply

And I'll bet that all these Home Automation vendors will put just a bunch of effort into hardening their products so that the fine people of our society won't hack our houses and turn our lives into living nightmares.

Right.

Heck, they don't even harden medical devices. For that matter, they don't harden cell phones (which have turned into the core of people's lives).Reply

If wifi wins the standard war anyone who has half a clue should be able to use WPA and a strong password to secure their HA systems. Granted the half clue needed to do so is a relatively high bar; but the clueless will break any other protection system too.Reply

Even if vendors do nothing, it's as secure as any home WiFi network is. All you have to do is enable WPA2 and its unlikely that anyone that would care is going to be able to get into your network.Reply

Seriously, if I'm going to hack something, it's not going to be to turn up the heat in someone else's home. What a stupid waste of my time.

Why is it that you people who are obsesively worried about security don't realize that all security is a matter of raising costs for would-be hackers to the point where the benefits aren't worth it. Messing with someone's lawn watering schedule is a pretty low benefit activity, so security demands just aren't that high.Reply

I can't find much on this standard; is it safe to assume that "sub 1ghz" means the 900mhz band? With every other wireless device abandoning it in favor of 2.4ghz; putting something new at 900mhz to keep it used sounds like an all around win.Reply

I think a product that has the potential to be a real disrupter in the HA space is the Electric Imp. It's a MCU and Wifi module in an SD card form-factor with 8 GPI/O and a cloud server infrastructure that can run rules-based programs (in addition to hard-coding the MCU). And it's cheap... a development board is only $30 at retail. I'm actually kind of surprised it wasn't mentioned in this article.Reply

Electric IMP looks to become big Home automation over next few years.Product developer will be able to add HA WIFI features to their products without the needed support cost of a managing the connection and the service themselves or the FCC validation of each product..http://electricimp.com/Reply

Thanks for the article Ganesh, very interesting and I agree that this technology is starting to get more accessible. However, I must disagree with the statement that it's not possible to recommend products that do not have a documented API. Nest works great for me standalone. Why would the average customer need to connect it to anything else? My sprinkler system is automated as well. It won't turn on if it has rained. The automated door locks will open when I approach with my cell phones. I think the simplicity and predictability in how these devices operate is key for mass consumer adoption.

I am a developer so there's nothing technologically in this realm that has stopped me from automating my house in the past. It's practical matters; cost and me becoming on call support in my own house. Anytime the lights don't come on the way they are expected to I'll have to go troubleshoot my devices/scripts.

If we had our wish we would get both simplicity and ultimate control. That's just not the way the consumer behaves though. Consumers will avoid poorly designed products that tout open APIs as a major selling point. People want things that work and they can understand. Reply

I don't disagree with you on the point that Nest is a great device. If it were not, it wouldn't have achieved this much success.

Products such as Radio Thermostat CT-30 and those from Visible Energy barely make a mention of open APIs in their marketing material. So, it is not that they 'tout it as a major selling point'. My intention, as a tech journalist, is to point out where products can improve. In that respect, I am a cynical customer for most of these companies.

To take the computing analogue, many users are satisfied with the Apple ecosystem, but there are a number of users out there who stand by Android for its open nature. Some journalists recommend and stand by Apple's products, while others are on the Android side of things. Both of them have a place in the market. Similarly, devices such as Nest will be popular in the market for some time to come because 'they just work' and people are enamoured by the appearance and usability. Just as Android continues to grow, devices which open up for ultimate control will give consumers better choices (particularly for the tech audience that makes up a majority of AT's readers).

Publications like Engadget, Gizmodo, Verge, AllThingsD (WSJ) provide lots of attention to products like the Nest. As a tech journalist for AT, I consider it my job done if consumers are at least made aware of the other more flexible options available.Reply

"Nest works great for me standalone. Why would the average customer need to connect it to anything else?"

I'd like to have my house open the windows and turn off the A/C when the temperature drops in the evening, and I'd prefer to do it with one application. I can program, but I'd rather have something available off-the-shelf.Reply

Hmm.. low power Wi-Fi is only needed in a subset of HA devices. As I pointed out in the piece, there are already plenty of Wi-Fi based HA products and silicon vendors are providing low power platforms even with current Wi-Fi technology.Reply

Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (BLE) is another protocol worth mentioning. It is a low-bandwidth, low-power technology that enables users to communicate directly to a device using a smartphone or tablet without the need for a separate controller or network connection. A self-contained sensor pod including a BLE module and battery can fit within a package about the size of a stack of six or seven 25-cent coins.

In a pre-802.11ah world, Wi-Fi is better suited to high bandwidth or web-enabled devices with external power. In practice, I expect to see hybrid solutions using Wi-Fi and a second technology for remote, low power devices.Reply

Hey, just wanted to take a moment to recognize Ganesh for his work. I know a lot of people are on the mobile device bandwagon and all of that, but I consistently find Ganesh's work to be unique, informative, and incredibly refreshing to this site.

The market is fairly confusing for a non techie customer, We were about to buy 3 Z-Wave locks from Lowes for our home a few weeks back. But then I noticed the lock keypads are not really weatherproof(very important in the northeast), and there is a $12.99/month fee to access your locks online. What a load...

$299.99 for the door kit and base station$129.99/additional door handle$12.99/mo for as long as you want access remotely to your home....

We want:-3 outdoor weather resistant locks(only one will be under an overhang)-outdoor lights defaulted to motion detection, over ridden by secure mobile app or door locks-indoor lights that can be grouped by zones-cameras defaulted to motion detection, turned on anytime the doors are open, and overridden by secure mobile app-thermostat-All information stored on my own server, and accessible from mobile app.

The wifes primary concern: wants to turn off everything and make sure the doors are locked from her Android tablet from bed when I'm out of town.

Personally I don't find their ui very intuitive, but it supports a lot of devices and there are mobile apps with no monthly fee.

I have one I've used for testing a few things but to be honest I don't even have it hooked up right now.

I have an alarm panel module (ip datatel - bat) that lets you control your alarm system from an android or ios app and it works pretty well - my wife can use it. I believe it does have a low monthly fee (I have one for testing/work so I'm not paying personally), but it's nice enough.

One of the things I do is write video surveillance software and so I dabble in home automation and alarm/sensor monitoring. I find many cheap ip cameras try to tie you into their software and online systems etc, but then fail to provide a complete solution (like what you are looking for). A full featured system like you are asking about... Is still hard to come by. Maybe somebody else knows one, but my own software, and any other software I have used (quite a few), don't provide everything you're looking for out of the box. But I don't work in the residential market so there may be a gem out there I just don't know about.Reply

Unfortunately, my smart meter was installed this year, and only supports Zigbee Smart Energy profile. Perhaps someone will build a converter to make it available via WiFi, but otherwise, it's locked into a very restricted license for access, such that it is quite expensive for a hacker to use. One has to get a key from a RIM subsidiary, and the first license is quite expensive. The license is likely restricted to devices which have passed Smart Energy profile certification, and I have no idea how much that will cost. So, if someone wants to build a WiFi to Zigbee converter box, I'd be happy to buy one.Reply

I do not care to much about home automation. However, I have noticed myself to stand in front of my house pushing the car remote and wondering why the door does not unlock ;-)

So I think the much more desired use is integration of technology by open standard. For most younger people the cell phone is the key to their life. So why not have the ability to use it as door opener, access badge at work, gym locker key, ATM card, car key (with seat memory and other setting preferences), ...

The key to all this is the ability to register securely the user's device or the operational unit with the user's device. How does current home automation do this?

Also, where is open source on this? I really can't see myself using a third party web service to access my house remotely? Next thing police forces them to open the door? So I want an open source based control server on my own hardware.

Also one of the objects that many geeks want to remote control is their computer(s). What is the state of Wake on LAN to achieve this? Most of what I have seen is standard routers not having the feature.Reply

I have a zoned heating system with 3 zones. I probably could have gotten away with 2, but the third came with only the cost of an extra thermostat. Unfortunately, the zoning system provides no input to the HVAC system other than the 2 stage furnace or 2 stage air conditioner. Ideally, this would all feed back into the control board in the furnace, with information on how many zones need heat/cooling, the size of the zones, whether they are in the sun or not, and the outside temperature. This would allow better control over whether the second stage of the heat/AC is useful, and how fast the fan should run based on the number of open zones. A heating cycle could be extended if one zone was close to needing heat rather than more frequent furnace cycling which is hard on the heat exchanger. The set-points for each thermostat could be maintained in the control board, and controllable through a smart phone app or locally. But, the thermostat could really be reduced to just a temperature sensor with no user feedback. The NEST thermostat is an overly expensive device primarily because its combining a user interface, processor, controls, and temperature sensor. I would rather have the intelligence in the furnace control board (or blower control from outside the control board and intelligence in the HA system).Reply

Essentially, for HA to really work, there's a higher level protocol that's going to be required. And this has to be standardized.There's currently a big push for this kind of thing, with many patents and standards being published, and I wouldn't recommend to anyone to invest heavily before this has somewhat settled down.

Zigbee still seems to be THE M2M-technology according to what I see at work (M2M research lab at a large European telco), as it is much cheaper to implement than the heavier protocols.Future 802.11 might change this, but at this time, I'd put the focus there.

Finally, until there are better presence /identification /activity sensors and the required logic to learn usage patterns, it will remain remote control. This is convenient, but it doesn't go far enough for me to truly adopt it. Never mind spending big money on it.

For now it is still mostly faffing about with electronics, and in that case I would stick to rolling your own, in the most modular way possible, so that if eventually a consensus standard emerges, the USB of HA, you can swap out your interfaces, without touching the hardware.Reply

The market still is too cluttered to propose 'the standard' that will be the USB of HA, especially as most of the ones currently being offered are proprietary and heavily protected by licenses.

I'd also like to point out that there is more going on/needs to be looked at for all those gadgets and helpers to be more efficient (resource usage).These days every little thing comes with it's own acdc converter if it needs non-neglible power for displays or actors, this means all over the place there are powerplugs with their inefficiencies and clutter. There is (afaik) no venture to standardize the powersupply of things in the 0.5W - 30W range.Ideal would be some kind of low voltage dc distribution network for each house/apartment that is standardized similar to 230VAC power distribution.But there is NOTHING going on there - and most importantly the sockets/plugs for this. NOTHING (besides some 600V DC plugs for server environments - google: 'datacenter VDC').And to tell you the truth, once you got this distribution network, it's easy to just pull some more wires along for some protocol/interface, which would even eliminate the need for wireless most of the time.That would be the USB of HA ;-)Reply

These have been around for a while, so using X10 ... and oldie but goldie. Lotta various control & sensor stuff" out there (and cheap) ... but yea, is a bit slow and has some reliability issues ... although many of those can be addressed via some really cool devices from this guy - http://jvde.us/

I'd love to go to a higher tech (and agree that it will converge on Wi-Fi) but am waiting for the marketplace to mature and stuff to get cheaper.

Very extensive article and well covered. A few thoughts, and I think you or your readers have already touched upon this:

1. Bluetooth LE / 4.0 - is pretty important as well. One because many medical devices have adopted BT, and not Zigbee or ZWave or WiFi.

2. ZWave is very popular BUT my concern is that it is controlled by one company.

3. SEP 2.0 is going to be a very important move forward especially because it will work with WiFi, HPAV, and Zigbee.

4. Kickstarter - I noticed that you picked some projects. I think there are three segments to Home Automation - DIY, Luxury and NOW Managed (as provided by the likes of Comcast). Luxury traditionally belonged to the likes of Creston but Control4 is playing a major disruptor now. For the DIY segment - Kickstarter has changed the world. Here is my post on the # of projects on Kickstarter for HA - http://bit.ly/Q02Mk2

5. Service Providers are getting very active in this space - Comcast, Rogers, AT&T, DT etc.Reply

WiFi appears to be a popular choice for powered appliances and as the article talks about Semiconductor providers such as Marvell are providing compelling solutions. The challenge is that every implementation especially if it is from a different semi partner - its implementation in SW is different. That is there is no standard or specification to discover devices on WiFi - each implementation could be different. I am contrasting this with Zigbee because Zigbee has a well-defined protocol on how devices are discovered and controlled by category (Zigbee has its own terminology for all of this).Reply

Lots of talk about hardware, and a bit of discussion about controllers and host software, but there isn't a lot of software out there that's provides a bridge between all the different protocols and the central brain/logic essential to the smart home.

I've been using LinuxMCE (free, open-source) and have been following their development for the past while. Not yet for the technically faint of heart, but there ARE device templates for a large number of different protocols (Z-wave, Insteon, KNX, RS232, IR, X10, various ethernet devices, etc) allowing you to control pretty much any type of HA device. It also controls media and VOIP telecom in your house. The end result is a fully integrated solution between all devices in your home.

Example: Someone rings the door bell. Your porch light turns on (if it is after sundown), your IP cam turns on, its video feed is forwarded to your mobile phone, and (if it knows you are home because your security system is not armed, or by other logic) to the various TVs around your house after powering them on. The video is also recorded to your server. If you were watching TV during this event, it pauses your feed and to show you the front door IP cam.

The possibilities are truly endless with this software, and I have to give it a plug here.Reply

Nice article on one of my obsessions. I so want WiFi to be the household communications protocol (actually TcpIp with any mix of wireless, wired CAT5, powerline Ethernet etc. that may be appropriate depending on the devices and controllers).

I want a ubiquitous open standard that is well understood. I want two-way comm. I want sufficient bandwidth for video. I want security. I want all my current and future smart devices (desktop, tablet, smart phone, Raspberry Pi, robots, etc.) to be able to participate. I want that common infrastructure so I can incrementally add devices from various manufacturers. I also want the option of writing my own code in smart controllers e.g. PC.

One point the article kind of makes is that common comm protocol is not enough, you need a higher level API for each device that is well documented.

p.s. I think the technology in the new Kindle Paperwhite (touch, front lit, very low power, wifi) could be packaged into a great HA and AV remote. No video is a drawback for some applications like answering the door but still pictures at 1 fps might be fine. Reply

Maybe I'm mistaken but few years ago Microsoft was talking about getting involved in HA business. I believe Gates was talking about it too. MS could easily create standard for HA Wi-Fi and become leader on the market with hardware and software in Windows RT or 8 environment.